Feelings
by Joni
Summary: They all had to continue their lives after Ultimecia was defeated. This story concentrates on their thoughts - how did they feel? Each character gets one chapter.
1. The meaning of friendship

It was eeriely quiet in the deck of Balamb Garden. The sky was completely black and the whole island felt like a lonely and abandoned place. Some light could be seen in the direction of the town which seemed like the only inhabited place at that moment. The Garden was so silent that it was hard to believe that there were thousands of students sleeping in their dorm rooms. Only one person seemed to be awake.

Squall was shivering slightly while standing on the deck. He had always enjoyed the cold and fresh night air. Ever since he was a child he had often sneaked outside at nighttime to feel the air of mystery surrounding him, to feel the presence of danger all around him. It was both attractive and scary at the same time but it was the only place and only time where he could concentrate on his thoughts and forget about the rest of the world. To be a lone wolf.

Lone wolf? Yes, many had described him as one. However, he was quickly losing that reputation since everyone had learned that he could be a nice guy. And Squall himself had learned how to be one, thanks to his friends who had fought beside him, supporting him when he had had hard time.

He still could remember what he had thought of them when they had first met. Zell had seemed like an irresponsible kid who later proved to be a valuable addition to the team. Irvine was still a bit unfamiliar to him but he was a good guy, though he could be quite annoying and full of himself sometimes. All of them had good and bad sides but only thing that mattered to Squall was that they were his friends.

Friendship was a word that didn't really fit into Squall's mouth. It was a thing that he had started to value more and more and when he thought how he had deliberately rejected anyone who had tried to befriend with him in the past... well, he could only laugh. He still wasn't very social but he understood how ridiculous he had sometimes been and felt ashamed because of it.

After Ultimecia was defeated, he had found a lot more content in his life. Friends... even love. It hadn't been much of a surprise to anybody when Squall and Rinoa had started a relationship. In fact, it would've been a surprise if they hadn't done that because everyone could sense the chemistry between them.

Suddenly Squall realized that it was well past midnight. He wasn't tired but he didn't want to be sleepy next day.

"Good night, Balamb," he said quietly to himself and headed back to his room. 


	2. Life of a teacher

The last lesson of the day had just ended and the classroom was empty of people. Well, except for one person; Quistis was still there, sitting behind her desk, browsing through the latest exams. There was nothing surprising; a few persons didn't pass and most boys, who had only concentrated on having daydreams about HER during the lessons, didn't get a very high score, but passed. Of course, there was always somebody who got full points and there was no expection this time.

Feeling too tired to do anything about the tests, she left them on the table and exited the classroom. It had been another, very boring day in the life of a teacher.

"Geez, why did I ever ask my instructor license back?" she thought.

Even though she hated to admit it, she missed their adventures. All the travelling, seeing new places, living in constant danger and being able to face horrible enemies... it was something great compared to teaching. It felt like all the students were clones of each others: there was always at least one bully and one nerd in the class. Oh, and a bunch of drooling Trepies.

"Maybe I should quit Garden?" she muttered quietly while stepping on the elevator which brought her to the first floor. "Nah. What else do I have?"

Sad but true. She felt like being trapped in a place that had lost its meaning, and she wasn't completely wrong about that. There was no real meaning for Garden anymore, now when there wasn't a threat of a sorceress taking over the world anymore, although Garden had never had much to do with defeating Ultimecia in the first place, because in the end it had been just her, Squall, Rinoa and the others who finished her off.

Squall and Rinoa - deeply in love. Selphie and Irvine - the same thing. She was the only one of their team who wasn't dating anyone. Well, except Zell, but he didn't seem to care about being single. Probably the only thing that mattered to him were hot dogs. On some lonely nights she had wished that she had someone beside her, someone she could trust and who she could depend on.

Feeling like she was getting too sad, Quistis tried to reject the depressing thoughts from her mind as she arrived in her room. After closing the door and taking off boots she scretched her arms and took a nice position on the bed, trying to get some sleep. But before that she decided one thing:

"I gotta get rid of teaching before it kills me." 


	3. Fishing

Everything was calm in Balamb. Only the random noices of seagulls flying over could disturb the peace that had settled in the harbor. Sure, peace was a good thing but Seifer thought it was boring. He had been fishing for a good while already but now he was having a break. Almost asleep, he was completely unaware of an approaching threat. 

"Take that!" an angry-looking youngster said while kicking him.

It hurt, but Seifer was soon on his feet with the gunblade in his hand.

"Make the smart decision... and leave me alone."

The kid ran away, obviously very scared. It wasn't new to Seifer that somebody tried to assault him. They thought that he had served Ultimecia out of his own free will, and couldn't understand why the SeeDs hadn't killed him. Those people felt like they should finish him themselves and Seifer was quite depressed by that at times.

However, he wasn't that disappointed about being kicked out of the Garden. In fact, he understood very well that they had reasons to do so. Well, at least three reasons: 1), He wasn't a good student, 2), he had low chances of becoming a SeeD and 3), they would get a lot of bad publicity. What actually troubled him was that he had been an easy opponent to the SeeD. They had only seen him as an obstacle on their way and after everything was over, nobody cared about him anymore.

"Hey, man."

Seifer didn't hear Fujin and Raijin coming. His instincts were no more what they used to be, mostly because of the lack of training.

"AGAIN?" Fujin said, looking at Seifer holding the spot where the youngster had kicked him.

"Yeah. Can't blame 'em, though."

Without Raijin and Fujin he would've already left Balamb. He had often thought about travelling to the Shumi Village, the only place where he wouldn't be recognized. But it just didn't feel right to leave the posse.

"Disciplinary committee is boring without ya," Raijin said and sat himself next to Seifer.

"TOO BORING."

"Meh. I wish I could be there... By the way, I've got a lil' plan. I thought about travelling to Shumi Village. I doubt if I find any angsty teenagers wanting to hang me in there."

"You're not just gonna leave us here!"

"Of course not. But maybe you guys could come along?"

"NOT YET."

"Yeah, Fujin's right. We've got to wait for the next summer before we graduate. But then..."

"I can wait," Seifer said, getting excited. "Then we'll go and leave this place behind! It's gonna be fun!"

At times, life could show its brighter side. No matter how dull it is, it's easier to live when you know to except something good to happen. And another thing that Seifer was beginning to realize was that he had two good friends who were always ready to stand beside him. With them, it didn't matter that most people wanted to see him dead.

* * *

Author: Geezzz... I know that if I read this chapter again someday, I won't like it. Luckily I never read my own work... 


End file.
